Ranko Tajsić (1843–1903) was a Serbian politician and people's

tribune Tribune () was the title of various elected officials in ancient Rome. The two most important were the Tribune of the Plebs, tribunes of the plebs and the military tribunes. For most of Roman history, a college of ten tribunes of the plebs ac ...

. He was a radical-socialist Member of Parliament, first elected to the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

in 1874, and was one of the founders and vice-president of the

People's Radical Party The People's Radical Party (, abbr. NRS) was a populist political party in Serbia and later Yugoslavia. Led by Nikola Pašić for most of its existence, its ideological profile has significantly changed throughout its history, shifting from ...

Biography

Unlike other radicals, he voted against the draft of the new constitution of 1888 at a session of the Constituent Committee together with Dimitrije Katić. He fell as the last victim of the Obrenović absolutism. He was sentenced to death after an assassination attempt on Milan Obrenović on

Saint John's Eve Saint John's Eve, starting at sunset on 23 June, is the eve of the Nativity of St John the Baptist, feast day of Saint John the Baptist. This is one of the very few feast days marking a saint's birth, rather than their death. The Gospel of Luke ...

, 1899 (in Serbian known as ''Ivanjdan'' according to

Old Calendar Calendar reform or calendrical reform is any significant revision of a calendar system. The term sometimes is used instead for a proposal to switch to a different calendar design. Principles The prime objective of a calendar is to unambiguo ...

), but the sentence was not carried out because Tajšić was already in exile in

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

under the protection of the royal family there. After an amnesty, he returned to Serbia where he died in 1903. Broken down by persecution, trials, emigration, exhausted by illness and affliction, Tajsić is remembered to have stood upright in defense of freedom,

parliamentary system A parliamentary system, or parliamentary democracy, is a form of government where the head of government (chief executive) derives their Election, democratic legitimacy from their ability to command the support ("confidence") of a majority of t ...

, and

democratic values Democracy (from , ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitiv ...

Literature

The source of most of the information on Tajsić is the thorough and informative ''Narodni tribun: Ranko Tajsić'' by Dragoje M. Todorović (published in Belgrade, ''

Srpska akademija nauka i umetnosti The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (; , SANU) is a national academy and the most prominent academic institution in Serbia, founded in 1841 as Society of Serbian Letters (, DSS). The Academy's membership has included Nobel laureates Ivo ...

'', Posebna izdanja 550, 1983).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tajsić, Ranko 1843 births 1903 deaths Serbian politicians People's Radical Party politicians